Protector for heels and soles of boots and shoes.



P. W. WHITGHER & G. F. RANDALL. PROTECTOR FOR HEELS AND SOLES 0E BOOTS AND SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.1B. 1909.

1,098,142. Pa ented May 26, 1914.

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' loosen and to become dislodged sooner or 1. wedge-shaped portions, with a shoulder and FRANK "W. WHITCHER AND CHARLES E. RANDALL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TO UNITED SHOE IIIAGHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

PROTECTOR FOR HEELS AND SOLES OF BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 26, 1914.

Original application filed November 16, 1899, Serial No. 787,206. Divided and this application filed November 18, 1909. Serial No. 528,541.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK W. IVHIT- ones and CHARLES F. RANDALL, citizens of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Protectors for Heels and Soles of Boots and Shoes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

The invention is a division of that described and claimed by us in our application for United States Letters Patent filed on or about November 16, 1899,Serial No. 7 37 ,206, on which Letters Patent No. 959,982 were granted under date of May 31, 1910, and relates to the reinforces which are applied to the heels and soles of boots and shoes for the purpose of retarding the wear thereof.-

These devices commonly are termed protectors.

More especially the invention relates to that class of protectors which are composed of strip-like material in various bent forms, either curved or angular, and applied by being driven edgewise into the heel or sole of a boot or shoe. In some instances, protectors of this class are of uniform thickness from edge to edge thereof, while in others one edge is reduced tofacilitate the entrance thereof into a heel or sole and the other edge is of increased thickness to give a greater amount of substance andcorrespondingly reduce the rate of wearing down of the protector and of the heel or sole in which it is used. Our original Letters Patent aforesaid covers broadly the employment of the special features of our invention to each of these varieties. Herein is presented and claimed that division of our invention which relates particularly to the variety last described.

In most cases, in practice, when protectors of the class aforesaid are driven into a piece of stock, the entering edges thereof pass entirely through the said stock, thereby completely separating from each other the portions of stock between which the thickness of the protector comes to intervene. This results in more or less'tendency,'on the part of such portions to open away from the protector as the stock becomes dry and release their hold on the latter, permitting it to later. Moreover it has been deemed impracticable heretofore to employ in actual practice protectors of this class in the form of complete inclosures, as for instance, circular ones, on account of the fact that the plug of stock which would be inclosed by a protector of such form when driven would be separated from the stock outside the pro tector, and would be liable to loosen and fall out of place, leaving the central space of the protector empty. The said protectors are in practice frequently driven into the heels and soles of completed boots and shoes. It is an extensive practice, in addition, on the part of manufacturers, to introduce them into the top-lifts of heels, and into soles, before the said lifts or soles have been secured in place. One difiiculty is experienced when protectors are driven into the top-lifts and soles previous to the attachment of the latter to boots and shoes. That is to say, in being driven ino a lift or sole, the protectors force portions of the leather to the under side of the latter, producing on such side projections or bulges that tend to prevent the lift or sole from lying flatly and in perfect contact with the surface against which it is placed in the boot or shoe.

The objects of the invention are to obviate the foregoing drawbacks.

The invention consists in a protector of the class aforesaid, having the entering edge thereof notched as explained hereinafter with reference to the drawings. In a protector embodying our invention one or more deep notches or mouths extend from such edge part way across the width of the protector. These notches are narrow as compared with the adjacent portions of the entering side of the protector and are especially adapted, when the latter is driven into the stock to which it is applied for service, to leave intact or unsevered a similar number of corresponding necks or connecting portions of such stock joining together at an intermediate point or points of the protector the portions of the stock between which the protector intervenes. Thereby any tendency of the stock, when dry, to open away from reduction of thickness at the top of the lower wedge, the necks are of particular importance inasmuch as after the driving of a protector of such shape into a lift or sole,

- and after one side of the out in the leather has expanded so as to overhang the said shoulder, the necks tend to prevent the sides of the cut from spreading open during the practicable to employ in practice forms of protectors which completely, or almost completely inclose a plug of said stock, inasmuch as the said plug remains connected with the remainder of the stock in a manner which renders it impossible for the same to fall out. The specified form of notch or mouth does not interfere with the driving of the protector, as by tending to occasion deflection or distortion thereof, and it leaves substantially the full amount of material from the upper edge of the protector to the lower edge thereof, so that nearly the full wearing capacity of the protector remains until. the whole height thereof has worn away.

In some forms of the invention, the notches already referred to have adjacent the same other notches which are smaller, shallower and more numerous. In all cases, the introduction of the protectors into the leather is facilitated and the tendency to cause the leather to bulge or project on the reverse face thereof is lessened or completely obviated.

In the accompanying drawings we have illustrated the invention embodied in protectors of a variety of shapes.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a horseshoe-shaped protector embodying this division of our invention. Figs. 2 to 8 show protectors which respectively are oval, elliptical, square, hexagonal, flattish elongated, oblong rectangular, and triangular in plain, and all embodying such division. Fig. 9 shows an embodiment similar in form to that of Fig. 2, but with the addition of shallow notches in the entering edge thereof.

In every view of the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the body of the protector. In Figs. 1 to 8 the entering edge is designated 2. In every view, 3 is the wear-resisting edge of the protector.

The deep and narrow notches or mouths which are formed in the entering edges of the protectors are designated 4, 4. The precise number of the same in each protector is not material, one or more being formed therein as preferred or as made advisable by the shape of the protector itself.

The protectors of Figs. 2 to 9 form complete inolosures which would separate plugs from the remainder of the stock into which they are driven, if the deep and narrow notches 4, 4, were not provided.

This division of our invention includes those embodiments of the features of the invention in which a protector has, as is the case in each of the views of the drawings, a thick wear-receiving edge, a taper below the same, an intermediate ridge 5 to assist in retaining the protector in the stock into which it is driven, and a thin entering edge. The protectors shown herein usually are formed of strip-material which is first given the required shape in crosssection, it being formed with the notches, and then is bent into form, being cut to length. Many other forms may be adopted in practice, in addition to those which are represented in the present views of the drawings. However we contemplate producing by casting or molding any or all of the various forms of protectors in which this branch of our invention may be embodied.

F 9 shows an embodiment of the inven tion in which the deep narrow notches 4, 4, formed in the entering edge of the protector have adjacent the same more numerous and shallower notches 6, 6, the latter facilitating the driving of the protectors and obviating bulge or projection of the reverse face of the stock into which the protector is driven. It will be observed that in the case of each of the different modifications herein shown the entering edge of the protector, although notched, is uniform otherwise, i. 6., it has no prominent projections extending beyond the general line of the edge.

We claim as our invention 1. A protector consisting of strip-like material in bent form, adapted to be driven edgewise its whole height into the surface of the stock which receives it, so as to be entirely buried therein by the driving operation, having substantially parallel entering and wear-edges and formed at one surface thereof with a retaining shoulder to prevent withdrawal of the device after being driven, and having also a taper above such shoulder, with its entering edge a thin cutting edge and notched, substantially as described.

2. A protector consisting of strip-like material in bent form, adapted to be driven edgewise its whole height into the surface of the stock which receives it, so as to be entirely buried therein by the driving oper ation, having substantially parallel entering and wearing edges and formed at one surface thereof with a retaining shoulder to prevent withdrawal of the device after being driven, and having also a taper above such shoulder, with its entering edge substantially uniform in the direction of its length and composed of relatively wide sections adapted to cut their way into the said stock, and the said sections separated by one or more deep and relatively narrow mouths or notches to leave intact in the said stock a corresponding neck or necks joining together at an intermediate point or points the portions of stock that are separated by the said sections ofthe entering edge.

3. A protector consisting of strip-like material in bent form, adapted to be drivenedgewise its whole height into the surface of the stock which receives it, so as to be entirely buried therein by the driving operation, having substantially parallel entering and wear-edges and formed at one surface thereof with a retaining shoulder to prevent withdrawal of the device after being driven, and having also a taper above such shoulder, with the said entering edge substantially uniform in the direction of its length and composed of relatively wide sections adapted to cut their way into the said stock, and the said sect-ions separated by one or more deep and relatively narrow mouths 0r notches to leave intact in the said stock a corresponding neck or necks oining together at an intermediate point or oints the portions of stock that are separated by the said sections of the entering edge, and with shallow notches formed in the said sections laterally adjacent said notch or notches.

In testimony whereof we alfix our signatures, in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK W. WHITOHER. CHAS. F. RANDALL. Witnesses:

EDITH J. ANDERSON, NATHAN B. DAY.

Copies of thin patent may he obtlined for five cents each, by addressing the Oommluioner of Patents,

. WuhlngtonJJ. 0." 

